The final day of track action at Chang International Circuit rounded off a successful test for Team SUZUKI ECSTAR. There has been positive progress made throughout the three days on the brand new track, and the team and riders were able to gain useful data, try new parts, and work towards their ‘final’ set-up.

Alex Rins, who has kept up a very strong pace from the beginning to the end at Chang International, used the final day to reconfirm his ideal settings and the efficacy of Suzuki’s new aerodynamic fairing. He reported the same favourable feelings which he had felt when debuting the new package on Day 2.

Andrea Iannone, who had so far used the test for fine-tuning settings and making long runs to compare the feel of the bike combined with tyre longevity, in the last day could also try the new fairing, which he found helpful.

Ken Kawauchi - Technical Manager
“It was a good test, we could test many items, also thanks to the weather - which has been consistently hot but not raining - it allowed us to do many laps over the three days. Alex, as everybody can see, had very good lap times thanks to having a lot of confidence with the bike. Unfortunately Andrea could not be completely effective on a single lap, but his average lap time is not bad. We have some more ideas on how to improve so I’m not worried. Because we were able to complete our test program here, in the next test we will focus more on race preparation rather than many test items. We will try to be prepared for the opening round.”

Davide Brivio - Team Manager
“These three days have been positive for us because we could work intensively and complete the plan that we had. We’ve been carrying out some different options on the chassis and the engines for several months, with small but significant improvements occurring in every test. Now we have a clearer picture and we can leave Thailand with more awareness of what the best base package is. Alex worked on many comparisons and back-to-back analysis, his performance is positive both on multi and single lap pace. We’re very happy about this. Andrea is struggling a little with time attack on new tyres, and we will look for more improvements in that area. But his pace is solid and fast, which is the main positive for him to bring back from Buriram.”

Alex Rins
“Well, if I had to rate these 3 days in Thailand I would say 8 or 8.5, because we worked a lot and we tried many things. It was positive because now I’m sure we have a really good base for 2018. In Malaysia I was 80% sure that this package was good and the right fit for me, but now I’m going home 100% sure that this package has a strong potential. We will likely keep this new aerodynamic fairing because it helps me a lot in terms of anti-wheelie, which then helps to deliver more power. We will probably adjust it a little bit yet, but we are working in a good way. During these winter tests my target was to try to be competitive, and to create a good bike, to hopefully fight for the top positions this season.”

Andrea Iannone
“Although I’m not 100% satisfied, these tests have still been very positive for us. We could test everything again to make a final comparison between the improvements we’ve been carrying out during the last months, and now we have a clearer idea of the direct we have to follow. The only disappointing thing for me is not having been able to find positive efficacy on the single lap top performance. On consecutive laps I can be consistently fast, which is important for the races. The new fairing gave me good sensations. In Qatar we’ll finalise some more things in order to be ready, but I feel positive about starting the championship.”